Tycoon restores party ship to glory

THE founder of Carphone Warehouse is lavishing millions on rebuilding a
vintage 212ft motor yacht that was once rarely out of the gossip columns.

Sir Charles Dunstone, 48, has embarked on a two-year project to restore
Shemara to its former splendour.

In 1970 Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton boarded the yacht with a view to
buying it — but decided against. It is now expected to become the mother
ship of Dunstone’s “fleet”, which already includes two racing yachts: the
98ft Hamilton and 73ft Enigma.

Shemara was previously owned by Harry Hyams, the property developer behind
Centre Point in central London. He bought it in 1965 for £290,000 from Sir
Bernard and Lady Docker, the flamboyant and publicity-hungry society hosts
who threw extravagant parties on board.

In 1958 Lady Docker was banned from Monaco and the French Riviera after she
responded to a slight from Prince Rainier of Monaco at the